


Little Redbird

by dykecassandrawayne



Series: Earth-116 [11]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Self-Harm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-07-12 11:32:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19945474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dykecassandrawayne/pseuds/dykecassandrawayne
Summary: Athanasia al Ghul-Wayne feels numb after the death of her twin Damian.





	Little Redbird

2018

Athanasia was numb. Her twin was dead. Her Oummi was gone. 

And to the world they said Damian was ill and her Oummi had taken him back to their old home.

A lie. A lie because her Baba knew her Oummi would find a way to bring Damian back. But Athanasia knew that can't happen. There's no Lazarus Pits left. Damian's been dead for too long. He wasn't coming back.

Everything was numb.

Her bedroom door opened. Jason looked at her and yelled for Alfred.

She was numb as he picked her up and carried her to her bathroom.

He held a towel to her wrist. Bloodstained the green fabric.

She was numb as Alfred came in and ran out only to return with a first aid kit.

They kept asking her what happened.

Damian died. Oummi left. Baba is lying. 

Alfred and Jason wrapped her wrists and Jason laid her in bed. Alfred pick up her knife.

Richard, Timothy, and Cassandra joined. Where was her Baba? 

"Where's Baba?" She asked in a whispered. They all looked at her. She hadn't spoken yet.

Richard touched her hair. "He's keeping Alina away." 

Athanasia just nodded. Alina was eight. A normal eight-year-old. When Athanasia was eight her grandfather had her killed and put through the Lazarus Pit as a punishment. Alina was normal. Athanasia was not.

Jason grabbed her hand. "Asia… please tell us what happened." He asked.

His eyes had a green tint. That was bad. That was bad. Green meant Lazarus. She pulled away.

Jason looked hurt. Timothy and Cassandra glared at him. 

"Lazarus." She whispered. 

"عازر!" She screamed. Tears fell and she let out a sob.

Jason automatically wrapped his arms around her. "Athanasia. It's okay." 

Cassandra wiped tears off of her face. "You are safe. No one is going to harm you." 

Athanasia dug her nails into Jason's skin. Green. Everything was green. That sickening bright green.

She kept screaming and screaming yet Jason didn't let go.

"I shall fetch Master Bruce." Alfred said. He left. Everyone always leaves her.

"Athanasia, please. You're safe. There is no Lazarus Pit." Richard said.

"Ra's isn't here." Timothy said. That made her scream louder. She couldn't stop even when she felt Jason's blood under her fingers.

"Athanasia!" A small voice cried out. Alina. No. No. She shouldn't see her like this. No kid deserved to see her older sister like this.

But she couldn't stop. Everything was numb but it was also that burning green.

Jason was the only thing keeping her from harming herself more.

"Alina, go to your room." Richard snapped at the small girl.

"What's wrong with Athanasia?" Alina asked.

Athanasia knew the answer. Jason knew it. Effects of the Lazarus Pit. Damian and Talia would have known.

But they weren't here.

Damian was dead and Talia abandoned her again. Soon Bruce would leave her. And then Jason. And Richard and Tim. And Cassandra and Alina. Alfred. Barbara. Stephanie. Katherine. Mary Elizabeth. Mar'iand'r. Sasha. Lucas. Tamara. Tiffany. Maya. Suren. Charlotte. Holly. Selina. Harper. Cullen. Olive. Kyle. Pomeline. Colton. Maps. Katherine Basil. Jonathan. Emiko. Jackson. Lian. Everyone. Everyone was going to leave her.

She knew she was hurting Jason but she couldn't stop. She was a horrible person. She wasn't supposed to be alive.

Alfred came back with Bruce. With her Baba. Not Bruce. Baba. And Talia was her Oummi. There was so much green.

She felt a needle pierce her arm. She cried out in pain and betrayal. What were they doing to her?

The green turned to black.

She was alone. "Hello?" She called out.

"Athanasia?" A voice croaked behind her. Damian.

She turned around to see his bloody body. She screamed and fell down into nothing. Images of the people she killed flashed before her eyes. 

She was only twelve and yet she had killed so many.

She was only twelve and yet she had died so many times.

A memory surface and she was in a nursery. Two women singing in Greek each held a baby. 

An assassin came out of the shadows. The women screamed as they were killed. Athanasia caught the babies. This was not her memory. 

It was one that belongs to Ra's. His voice boomed around her. "Athanasia and Damian. My daughter made a mistake hiding you from me." 

The babies were her and Damian. Why is she seeing this?

Her Oummi appeared before her; bloody and broken.

"The League is no place for children!" Oummi screamed in a rage.

Ra's simply laughed. "The women who adopted them named them Damian and Athanasia. I left them with a nanny in your chambers. You will return to them. Their training begins tomorrow." 

Oummi simply nodded her head. 

Athanasia woke up feeling like crap. And her wrist were strapped to the sides of a bed. She was in the medical bay of the Batcave. 

Cassandra was sitting in a chair next to the bed. They made eye contact.

"Are you aware of me?" Cassandra asked.

"Yes." Athanasia said.

"What happened?" 

"I found a picture Damian started to draw of our family. Everything else is blurry… oh god. I hurt Jay. Is he okay?" Athanasia started to cry.

"He is. You only left… fingernail marks. There was only a little blood." Cassandra reached over and stroked Athanasia's hair.

"I'm sorry." Athanasia frowned.

Cassandra just stared at her.

"I'm scared. What if I hurt someone worse than I hurt Jay?" 

Cassandra shook her head and stood up. "You are… more of a, hmm, threat to... yourself." 

Then she left.

Jason came in a little later with a thermos. "Hey, Asia." 

Athanasia looked at the scabs on his forearms. "I'm sorry for hurting you." 

"It's okay. I didn't want you to hurt yourself more." Jason said sitting on the edge of the bed.

"It's not okay." 

"...I guess it's not but I forgive you. Now I have some soup for you since you missed dinner." Jason opened the thermos.

Athanasia smiled weakly. "That smell like… ox blood soup? Like Oummi use to make?" 

"Yeah, after Bruce sedated you I told Alfred we had to make some. So me and Dick went out with Mar'i and got the ingredients." Jason held it up to her mouth.

She let him help her drink it since her hands were bound to the bed. It tasted better than her Oummi's soup if she was being honest. But all the same, it reminded her of the good times during her childhood. It has been one of the few things her Oummi could cook. They only had it on certain occasions.

Jason pulled it away. "I know these past two weeks have been hard on you and I want you to know that you can talk to me anytime." 

Athanasia nodded. "I shot him." 

"Huh?"

"The man who killed Damian. The body that Baba said disappeared. The clone of Damian." Athanasia said.

"Oh." 

"Baba hates me now, doesn't he?" Athanasia started to cry again.

Jason hugged her. "No. He could never hate you." 

Athanasia looked up at him. "Really?" 

"Yeah, you're too fucking adorable for him to hate." Jason smiled.

"Okay." 

"Hey Asia?" 

"Yeah?"

"Promise me… that you'll try not to harm yourself again?" 

"I promise, Jay."


End file.
